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‘No-Pea’ Green Soup with Spicy Chorizo and Feta! Mmmmmmh...

So
its getting colder here… and in my household that means two things:

Mommy wants
her electric blanket, and...

Mommy’s Cooking Soup for Supper! Yay! (I can actually
hear my Six groan as I type this). I think, with my kids, it’s a texture thing?
They don’t like anything soupy, mashed or too saucy (yes, I feel sorry for me
too...) But that’s okay because, if its for-my-mouth-only, it allows me to be a
bit more daring with my flavours and spices. Oooh, how exciting, I get to be
daring with my broccoli soup? (I really need to work on my salcasm, I know).

But,
seriously, this soup is actually quite mild in flavour so don’t ‘chicken-out’
when it comes to adding the cayenne pepper or the spicy sausage. It needs the
saltiness and different layers of heat to pack a punch. If, by some lucky
chance, your kiddies like eating soup, but don’t want it too spicy, then keep
the cayenne pepper for soft warmth, and replace the sausage with smoked bacon, or ham, or even diced, left over chicken pieces, instead.

And
you wont even miss the croutons of your old, wheat-eating life, because the
different textures of the sausage and feta add a lovely crunch and ‘chew’ all
on their own. Trust me.

Serves
2 large or 4 small bowls

INGREDIENTS

A
knob of Butter and a splosh of Olive Oil, for frying

1
Chorizo sausage (or six strips of streaky bacon for a milder, kiddy version - or cooked chicken breast or ham)
chopped into small pieces

2 Leeks, wash thoroughly and chopped

1
head of Broccoli, broken up into florets

750ml
- 1 litre of good Chicken Stock

Himalayan Salt and White Pepper to taste

¼ - ½ tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 Egg

¼ Cup
grated Parmesan (or strong, mature Cheddar)

A
bunch of fresh Parsley, roughly chopped

Big
handful of washed, Baby Spinach, roughly chopped

TO
SERVE

A
dollop of Cream or Cream Cheese or Milk or Coconut Milk to thin

A
crumbling of Feta

EQUIPMENT

Medium
sized heavy saucepan

Immersion
blender OR blender

METHOD

Place
your knob of butter and splosh of oil in your heavy saucepan, over medium heat.
Note: if using Chorizo, you will need much less butter/oil than if frying
bacon as the sausage has loads of delicious flavourful fat.

In
same pan, with remaining sausage/bacon fat, fry onion till translucent and softened.

Add broccoli,
stock and seasoning and simmer, covered, for about 5 - 10 minutes until
broccoli is soft and tender.

Remove
from heat.

Add
egg, cheeses, cream, parsley and baby spinach and blitz in your blender (you
might need to do this in stages) or straight in the pot with your clever little
immersion stick blender, until smooth and creamy.

You
may wish to loosen it with a little more cream or stock, depending on how thick/creamy
you like it.

Taste
test. Check seasoning.

Plate
up your soup into warmed bowls and garnish with sausage meat and crumbled feta.

Voila.
Spicy soup to warm you up, for when your electric blanket is just not enough!

This makes four
½ cup ramekins. It’s coconut flour based (although not 'coconutty' in flavour at
all) and quite filling. I’ve been known to make a bigger one for me (all in the
name of science, of course) and, well,
let’s just say my eyes were bigger than my tummy. For an afternoon snack, with
an espresso or cup of tea, a small ramekin is perfect (and then you have
one left for tomorrow, and the next day too). Now, because I
made these on a random Monday afternoon after picking up my brood from
gymnastics, I didn’t have the time, nor inclinat…

If you are like me, and your gut gets into a knot at the very site of cream or too much milk, then this recipe is for you, baby!

Or, if you can handle dairy (which is annoying), but you have a cold or a chesty cough and you don't want to exacerbate your symptoms, then this warm, soft and velvety custard is just the thing to make you feel so much better.

Here you can see it thickened beautifully in the fridge by the next day. If you can tolerate butter, I have added it in at the end, but this is not necessary. It does, I find, help to mellow out the coconut cream. Now I actually lurve all things coconut, in all its beautiful variations, but in custard I'm looking for a softer, more VANILLA flavour... and, by Jove, I think I've done it! This will now be my go-to recipe for all things custard related, and can be pimped and…

This is a lovely no bake treat
you can make with your kids in no time. It’s great for the holidays
and the kids ask to make them for parties, especially. And the best part is… you can
choose which ingredients suit your taste and diet preference. We opted for blueberries over
those awfully sweet, and artificially red, glazed cherries usually found in traditional
Rocky Road. Blueberries, are softly sweet and slightly sour. These mini marshmallows are not sugar-free but I allow them in small quantities. You can omit them
(or even make your own sugar free marshmallows?) but I find their soft texture
adds a lovely chewiness to the bite. My four year old complained,
saying the nuts were a bit too hard for him to chew, so together, we made a separate
batch with just blueberries and marshmallows, and these were still lovely, but
trust me, if your dentures can handle the crunch, the salted nuts and sesame
seeds help cut through the sweetness and enhance the chocolatey flavour to the
max! I keep a st…